The Six-Stroke Engine

Article #134 • written by Alan Bellows

Under the hood of almost all modern automobiles there sits a four-stroke internal combustion engine (ICE). Though the efficiency of the design has been improved upon significantly in the intervening years, the basic concept is the same today as that used by the first practical four-stroke engine built in the 1870s. During every cycle in a typical car engine, each piston moves up and down twice in the chamber, resulting in four total strokes… one of which is the power stroke that provides the torque to move the vehicle. But the automotive industry may soon be revolutionized by a new six-stroke design which adds a second power stroke, resulting in a much more efficient and less polluting alternative.

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In a traditional ICE cycle, 1) the fuel/air valves open as the piston moves down, which draws air and fuel into the chamber; 2) the valves close as the piston moves back up, putting the air/fuel mixture under pressure; 3) the mixture is then ignited, causing a small explosion which forces the piston back down, which turns the crank and provides the torque; and finally 4) the exhaust valves open as the piston moves back up once again, pushing the byproducts of the fuel explosion out of the chamber. This leaves the piston back in its starting position, ready for another cycle. This process is repeated thousands of times per minute.

The clever new six-stroke design was developed by 75-year-old mechanic and tinkerer Bruce Crower, a veteran of the racing industry and a the owner of a company which produces high-performance cams and other engine parts. He had long been trying to devise a way to harness the waste heat energy of combustion engines, and one day in 2004 he awoke with an idea which he immediately set to work designing and machining. He modified a single-cylinder engine on his workbench to use the new design, and after fabricating the parts and assembling the powerplant, he poured in some gas and yanked the starter rope. His prototype worked.

His addition to the ICE design is simple in principle, yet a stroke of genius. After the exhaust cycles out of the chamber, rather than squirting more fuel and air into the chamber, his design injects ordinary water. Inside the extremely hot chamber, the water immediately turns to steam— expanding to 1600 times its volume— which forces the piston down for a second power stroke. Another exhaust cycle pushes the steam out of the chamber, and then the six-stroke cycle begins again.

Besides providing power, this water injection cycle cools the engine from within, making an engine’s heavy radiator, coolant, and fans obsolete. Despite its lack of a conventional liquid cooling system, his bench engine is only warm to the touch while it is running.

From the Autoweek article:

Crower invites us to imagine a car or truck (he speaks of a Bonneville streamliner, too) free of a radiator and its associated air ducting, fan, plumbing, coolant weight, etc.“Especially an 18-wheeler, they’ve got that massive radiator that weighs 800, 1000 pounds. Not necessary,” he asserts. “In those big trucks, they look at payload as their bread and butter. If you get 1000 lb. or more off the truck…”

Offsetting that, of course, would be the need to carry large quantities of water, and water is heavier than gasoline or diesel oil. Preliminary estimates suggest a Crower cycle engine will use roughly as many gallons of water as fuel.

And Crower feels the water should be distilled, to prevent deposits inside the system, so a supply infrastructure will have to be created. (He uses rainwater in his testing.) Keeping the water from freezing will be another challenge.

Bruce Crower holds a patent on the new design— which he is still developing and tweaking— but he estimates that eventually his six-stroke engine could improve a typical engine’s fuel consumption by as much as forty percent.

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I’m a student of Mechanical Engineering. I think if this idea is really as good as it sound in reality, then it might just be the next big thing in automation and automotives. No one has so far looked deeply into the basic of ICE strokes, before this guy that is ^_^ . It is indeed a brilliant incentive…Kudos to the mechanic

Bucky

Posted 18 March 2006 at 10:55 pm

I thought that water in your pistons was B-A-D? My friend drove his truck through a huge puddle and water got in under the sparkplugs. The engine seized up so quickly that the crankshaft was bent where the pistons attach. How is this engine successful, then?

I’m still amazed he got it to work on the first try. I can hardly make a few lines of code run correctly on the first try, much less design my own revolutionary combustion engine and have it work from the start. I guess that is testament to the simplicity of the idea. It will be interesting to see where this goes in the coming years, if at all.

Maybe the car could create distilled water itself, from tapwater? That might be able to take even more heat out of the engine.

naser

Posted 18 March 2006 at 11:10 pm

brillian indeed

Berkana

Posted 19 March 2006 at 12:43 am

Brilliant, but there’s a problem if the goal is to reduce energy use: distilled water takes a lot of energy to produce; all that water to evaporate completely is a lot. The question is, is the energy required to distil the water more or less than the energy saved by utilizing the steam for another power stroke? My guess is that it is more: thermodynamically speaking, conversion processes are never 100% efficient.

The energy won’t be spent at the car end of the equation, but at the distilled water plant. Now, if the energy used to distill the water is solar or something clean, then it’s all good and will save us polution and fuel costs, but it still must be taken into account.

Arcangel

Posted 19 March 2006 at 12:53 am

This isn’t really anything new as it has been used (experimented with) in airplane jet engines. Not sure which manufacturer first used it though.

ASSMAN

Posted 19 March 2006 at 12:59 am

Bucky, water in a conventional engine is bad yes, but this is much different.

The problem that you described is when water gets into the sparkplug area, thereby limiting its ability to make a spark. This 6-stroke enginge however injects the water directy into the cylinder, and immediately turns into vapor so it never touches the spark plug.

jbigdog

Posted 19 March 2006 at 01:08 am

I hope this isn’t a fantastic new technology that just ends up fading away, like so many others. Anything that lowers our dependancy on oil, even a little, is a great idea.

“Berkana says:
…
The energy won’t be spent at the car end of the equation, but at the distilled water plant. Now, if the energy used to distill the water is solar or something clean, then it’s all good and will save us polution and fuel costs, but it still must be taken into account.”

True, but think about how much energy it takes to convert crude oil into gasoline and diesel. Not to mention how much oil pollutes during conversion and especially transportation. We don’t kill any baby seals or fluffy bunnies when we spill water.

AZ196F

Posted 19 March 2006 at 01:55 am

Why can’t the steam that is pushed out the exahust valve be reused. One problem would be that it would have to cool which would take effeciency out of the system. But what if you collected it in another chamber but kept the water tank filled with enough water for a drive the length the gas will last. By then the water will have cooled naturally and will be reabsorbed. This eliminates the problem of haveing to distill too much water because most if it will be reused.

ForestGrump

Posted 19 March 2006 at 03:19 am

Assman,
I believe you’re partially correct. However, I believe Bucky is referring to when you entirely flood the cylinder with water. then when it goes to compression stroke…gas compresses and liquids don’t.

JustAnotherName

Posted 19 March 2006 at 06:20 am

I thought my car dashboard was broken when the lighting was out. My best friend reached under the dashboard or something and moved the lever to brighten the dashboard. She saved me from yet another embarrassment with my mechanic.

Bottom line on this engine: SAVE THE BABY SEALS AND FLUFFY BUNNIES!! Just like jbigdog says!

another viewpoint

Posted 19 March 2006 at 06:37 am

Back in the early 80’s, people experimented with putting a water spray jet nozzle in the top of the air filter (when the air filter was located right above the carbureator). This too, was to reduce fuel consumption. You could say the 6 stroke concept is the same basic idea. The expansive power of steam is awesome…after all, first land speed record was set by a Stanly Steamer.

I’m betting that if this is really worth something, the auto mfgr’s and oil companies will buy out the inventor and as noted, you’ll never see anything of this again. When Detroit and oil companies are threatened, they do whatever they have to do to preserve their profits and satisfy their stockholders. The inventor…he gets his share as well. The rest of us…it’ll be back to the gas pumps.

Sure wish the article had more technical info…numbers, charts, etc.

Wendell

Posted 19 March 2006 at 06:53 am

Arcangel said: “This isn’t really anything new as it has been used (experimented with) in airplane jet engines. Not sure which manufacturer first used it though.”

Yes, water injection has been around for decades. Some Fighters used it in WWII. In fact I use it with my SAAB turbo to keep my EXPLOSIONS down to a minimum. But this is the first time it has been applied as an additional cycle.

Speaking of explosions… technically the air fuel mixture does not explode (as the article states). It burns. If it were to explode, you would hear a “knocking” sound. An exploding fuel mixture expands faster then a piston can be pushed… kinda like hitting it with a hammer. The knocking sound you hear is the piston’s connecting rod resonating. What we want is a nice clean BURN.

Great posting!

(Engines create their own vacuum. Could this be amplified in some manner to lower the boiling point of water for distilling on the go?)

maerk

Posted 19 March 2006 at 09:06 am

I once heard the cycle of a piston engine described as suck, squeeze, bang, blow.

LL

Posted 19 March 2006 at 09:12 am

Simply collecting rain water and filtering it should save the costs and energy of distillation. Most homes could easily collect enough rain water for thier cars.

LL

Posted 19 March 2006 at 09:15 am

I bet this setup will need an electric heater for the winder as well. It would be even worse than the air cooled VW engines without it.

Pascal Leduc

Posted 19 March 2006 at 10:08 am

Were going to have to get the chemists together and have them design a combustible antifreeze. It gets down to -50 degrees over here and no amount of electrical heating is gonna keep that water liquid

Wendell

Posted 19 March 2006 at 10:59 am

maerk said: “I once heard the cycle of a piston engine described as suck, squeeze, bang, blow.”

Now it’s: suck, squeeze, bang, blow, squirt, whoosh!

Tynan

Posted 19 March 2006 at 02:34 pm

Now way this will work where I live without some modifications. It’s currently below zero outside (in mid-March).

Sounds great for people from warm places though.

wileybot

Posted 19 March 2006 at 03:30 pm

I put this in the same clever category as using braking to charge the battery. I hope he can make it work.

mikepurvis

Posted 19 March 2006 at 08:35 pm

It seems to me that reclaiming the water shouldn’t be that hard. Couldn’t you just force the spent steam through the existing radiator infrastructure and condense out most of the water that way? Just warn car owners that driving on blistering hot days will require more water than normal?

Also, shouldn’t it be possible to make a six-stroke Wankel rotary engine out of this idea? Like, a triangular casing and square rotor? Might be hard on the seals, but the geometry should work out properly.

Johan

Posted 19 March 2006 at 10:33 pm

The US Army has already developed a system to get potable water out of automobile exhaust. If coupled to this engine you could recycle most of the water the engine uses. While it would take up about the same amount of space as the radiator on a small car, on larger vehicles there will still be a net weight savings.

Yeah – isn’t H2O one of (along with CO2) the major products of the combustion of hydrocarbons? Like Johan said … the water’s already there, it’s just a matter of capturing it …

NeonCat

Posted 19 March 2006 at 11:10 pm

Although the idea about reclaiming the exhaust steam and condensing it seems good on the surface, I believe that the steam will contain remnants of the previous cycle’s burned hydrocarbons. Maybe not a lot, but enough to contaminate it to the point that it will get gunky after a while. Distilled water, pure water, boils at 100° C. Once you start introducing impurities, the boiling point will rise and your engine will probably produce less power, although IANAP/E.
You would have to use something like the Army process Johan writes about to recover a good portion of the water. Unfortunately, I don’t think the link describes what happens to the impurities filtered out (strictly speaking, it could be classified as toxic waste), and anything described as deliverable by C-130 implies to me a device which will need some major miniaturization to fit on a car.
As to the energy cost of distilled water, last I heard producing ethanol in this country using ADM’s technology uses more energy than you get from putting it in your tank instead of gasoline. I know the automakers are excited by the marketing possibilities but when you compare the US’s efforts at alternative energy with Brazil’s, we suck. Brazil in fact plans to be self-sufficient in energy production by the end of the decade. So, using distilled water to reduce our hydrocarbon consumption (assuming we did that and didn’t just build a new series of Expeditions, Yukons, etc.) seems to me to be a really good idea.

Basically it’s a merger between a wankel rotary and the 4-stroke, and it’s supposed to combine the advantages of both with few disadvantages (ie. keeps the few moving parts of a wankel but keeps the efficiency of a piston).

I’m not sure why it’s having so much trouble getting started, but my guess is that piston engines have a lot of research for them going back 200 years, and this has only been around 10.

The howstuffworks.com link at the bottom of the wiki is a great read for it.

Dave

Posted 20 March 2006 at 08:08 am

Interesting! And, it appears to be quite innovative, despite the previous usage of water injection, which was to hold down combustion temperatures to avoid melting the engine. The WWII airplanes that used the water injection often used two stages of turbocharging, complete with an intercooler between the stages to limit the temperature rise. Even with liquid cooling, these engines often ran right at the edge of meltdown in order to squeeze the maximum power output possible (Efficiency? Who cares just as long as they produce enough power to be fast enough to keep from being shot down.).

However, before this engine can go into mass production, there needs to be quite a bit of research into the materials properties. Some metals, when heated, will scavenge Oxygen from water, causing them to “rust”, decreasing efficiency, and spewing Hydrogen into the exhaust stream (e.g. Steam explosion). This is one of the reasons that most engines intentionally run with a rich fuel mixture (with the other reason being to hold down combustion temperatures, which tend to peak when running at a stochiometric ratio). Another concern may be with the water absorbing Carbon Dioxide to form Carbonic Acid. That probably won’t be a problem for the exhaust system, but may be a concern with blow-by gasses. For that matter, with the cooler running engine, steam blowby into the crankcase may contaminate the oil, leading to premature bearing failure without some materials research into a water compatible lubricating oil. For that matter, the cooler running engine will require modification to the lubricating system (e.g., different viscosity of the oil, etc.).

There’s a BIG difference between having a prototype engine fire up on the test stand, and having one last for 10 years and 100,000 miles in a consumer application.

As for reclaiming the spent steam, that might be possible, but separating it from the hydrocarbon combustion sludge would be tricky. Additionally, it might be necessary to reintroduce the radiator and cooling system to condense the steam (thus, eliminating the weight savings by having eliminated it in the first place). Since distillation plants can be run fairly easily with solar energy, that should help with the energy balance. Additionally, it may be possible to reclaim waste heat from other sources, such as power plants, which are required to construct large cooling towers to dissipate their waste heat. Other techniques may involve freezing the water to remove impurities (freeze distillation).

Be a little careful with rain water. While it is a form of distillation, it can also have significant impurities (e.g., acid rain, etc.). Rain tends to clear various impurities from the atmosphere, as anyone who has ever experienced a “muddy” rain can attest.

As a mechanical engineer of more years than I care to admit, the two obvious problems I see with this are:
1) Oil emuilsification. no piston rings are a perfect seal, operating as they do in very harsh conditions and having expansion gaps. I would think that within a very short service life the oil in the sump would be very badly emulsified, and this in turn would lead to accelerated engine wear
2) Poor fuel efficiency! The point about engines getting hot, and this is why they are not cooled to a lower temperature than they are in conventional four-stroke engines, is that they actually rely in part on the internal heat to vapourise the fuel as it travels through the inlet mainfold tracts and into the combustion chamber. Carburrettors and fuel injection systems merely atomise the fuel, the heat vapourises it. So if you run an engine cool, as with this prototype, you reduce the basic fuel efficiency in the hope of recovering some energy in the fifth stroke. This may be a retrograde step!

ZenMasterThis

Posted 31 March 2006 at 08:45 pm

I wonder if the surfaces of cylinders, pistons, valves, etc. can withstand the constant, repeated heating and quenching without cracking? I’m picturing significant thermal gradients on all surfaces: rapidly-cooled/heated metal from zero to a few tens of microns, and relatively constant, high temperatures behind that. Not a recipe for long life. Anyone else?

tbradford

Posted 24 April 2006 at 03:48 am

The US Patent Office has a subclass 123 / 64 SIX-CYCLE. There is a patent aparently close to what is described by Mr. Crower. It is US Patent # 2,671,311 issued in 1954. High temperature water and pressure water is injected directly into the combustion chamber on the fifth stroke. An exhaust diverting valve routes combustion gasses on the fourth stroke to a heat exchanger to heat the injection water and routes the steam exaust on the sixth stroke to a condenser. I assume that Mr. Crower’s patent has some variation of this.

itreal

Posted 26 April 2006 at 11:40 am

I would guess that if water starts to expand before they enter the chamber or before the intake valve closes, the process described in the article wouldn’t work.

I’m interested to know what is the typical temperature range outside an engine chamber?
Also, how can one prevent water from vaporizing before it enter the chamber?

ihss

Posted 29 April 2006 at 01:17 pm

itreal: the anwer to your question about preventing the water from premature vaporization is to keep it under enough pressure.

Ideally the water should be as close as possible to it´s boiling point before it enters the combustion chamber. Otherwise a lot of energy would be lost heating the water to the boiling point. The specific heat capacity of water is very high. 4,19 kJ/(kg*K) (wich means that it takes 4,19 kJ to raise the temperature of one kg of water one degree centigrade.) so using the heat from the exhaust gases to heat up the water before injection seems like a very good Idea. The heat of vaporazation for water, by the way, is 2,26 kJ/kg.

I have one question when it comes to condensing and reusing the water though. What about the acids?
When burning gasoline some acids are created. The reason and engine needs to run at 80-90°C is that otherwise these acids will condense in the combustion chamber and cause corrosion, right?

datolet

Posted 01 May 2006 at 10:08 pm

Stray thoughts:

In my misspent youth there was anti-freeze and permanent anti-freeze, the latter (Ethylene Glycol) being what we now call anti-freeze, the former being Denatured [Ethanol] Alcohol. What do you suppose would happen if if ethanol treated [to preclude freezing] water were directly injected on the fifth cycle? Maybe cycle all or a portion of that into the first cycle?
Solar stills are a concept that has been around for time out of mind, distill water, why not, the Earth has been doing it for years. Hmm, rain.
I like the use of dykes type or gapless rings for that extra sense of security.
More later, perhaps, as the cobwebs and rust clear.

jiro

Posted 07 May 2006 at 12:32 am

To IHSS,

You seem to have moved the decimal point 2 places to the left on the heat of vaporization of water. It is 2263 Kj/Kg, or about 540 times the heat capacity of water at 100 degrees C. As for the 6 stroke, the amount of water injected into the cylinder would be that amount needed to keep it at the correct operating temperature for the first 4 strokes. The steam expansion stroke cools the engine instead of an external cooling system. The temperature of the injected water would be a minor issue. If the introduction of steam into an IC engine can be dealt with regarding rust, oil degradation, etc this could be an easy improvement in efficiency. The fuel injection system that would most likely be used would be direct injection, either diesel or gasoline. Either way sufficient atomization of fuel is most likely possible by reducing steam production

The specific heat capacity of water is very high. 4,19 kJ/(kg*K) (wich means that it takes 4,19 kJ to raise the temperature of one kg of water one degree centigrade.) so using the heat from the exhaust gases to heat up the water before injection seems like a very good Idea. The heat of vaporazation for water, by the way, is 2,26 kJ/kg

spencer

Posted 01 June 2006 at 02:17 pm

A brilliant and simple idea and some of the concerns voiced here should study the Abner Dolby engines and earlier steam engines. Clearly they will be development issues to be solved, but oil emulsification is not one of them. Steam engines use special steam oil and they run no problem. I reckon oil lubrication modification can solve all issues. Similarly I doubt corrosion issues as Bruce Crower lets engine run on gas for thirty seconds or so after switch-off (similar to many turbo-charged engines) to clear all moisture. I think it all turns on fuel economy and water usage, unless fancy condenser/purifier solves that problem. Also Bruce doesn’t start water injection until 400 degree temperature reached.

Clearly worth a significant development program and it will depend on resulting engine economy, cost and efficiency as ever. That said, it is clearly a clever idea, will be interested in development and test run results. Seems much better idea than BMW’s complicated system.

Digital Dave

Posted 05 June 2006 at 11:26 am

I read with great interest about the new engine of Bruce Crower. A number of the thoughts behind his engine are similar to the system which, because of a life-threatening health issue, I began making public in 2004. This was done via mass-distribution of an approximately 70 page computer file using disks and numerous emails. For more information about this computer file, please visit my Web site at: http://plaintruth.250free.com. This file was written at a time when I was facing the thought of death. It may answer some of the questions raised by other postings on this site.

The computer file covers the system which I researched and experimented towards for a period of about 25 years. It also works to show people the need for this system, and also some of the problems they might face when trying to bring a system of this nature to the general public. The information in the computer file I gave as a gift to humanity in 2004. I again renew that commitment. If there are individuals who would like to examine an engine technology which actually goes far beyond the Crower engine, please visit my Web site (address given above). I may also be contacted via email at: des348digital@yahoo.com.

spencer

Posted 17 June 2006 at 12:02 pm

Found of high interest, but would submit that much complexity and intermediate steps could be eliminated by resurrecting old steam technology and then employing modern materials and technology to overcome original drawbacks of steam such as not instant “start and drive”. I submit that steam with no smog issues at all , is the best solution and others alternate fuel sources free of water-gas limitations and complexity. Possibly clean gas from coal is long term solution and we are often dubbed the Saudi Arabia of coal with plenty of coal reserves for over 400 years. In interim natural gas or LNG would both be viable clean fuel alternates. My preference would be natural gas for simplicity and cost.

Please note that a steam engine gives max torque at zero RPM and was many more working strokes than ICE and has higher thermal efficiency than ICE and its Otto cycle limitations. It is not by accident that steam turbines are the engine of choice in power generation. If instant start is deemed vital ,then a regular or gel battery will suffice for the initial 15 seconds or so of operation if required. Flash boilers could be employed as widely used in Europe. There are many alternatives, but my take would be to work towards no hydrocarbons and possibly either all steam or steam hybrid as a final solution. Steam has many virtues and few vices and is a well developed technology, but needs updating to present as steam engine development basically stopped with achievements of Abner Doble back in 1930.

WolfManDragon

Posted 28 June 2006 at 07:27 am

One thought on distilling water. Many of the steam distilleries use titanium piping. Titanium is in short supply, and getting worse.

JaxGTO

Posted 29 June 2006 at 11:47 pm

Mr. Crower, you should look at teaming up with Mr. Coates and his spherical port-type rotary valves. Which eliminate the cam, lifters, push rods, rocker arm and valves. http://www.coatesengine.com/products.html

If your system can save 50% gas used and his valves save 45% power now you really have something!
Jack.

Wendell said: “Yes, water injection has been around for decades. Some Fighters used it in WWII. In fact I use it with my SAAB turbo to keep my EXPLOSIONS down to a minimum. But this is the first time it has been applied as an additional cycle.

Speaking of explosions… technically the air fuel mixture does not explode (as the article states). It burns. If it were to explode, you would hear a “knocking” sound. An exploding fuel mixture expands faster then a piston can be pushed… kinda like hitting it with a hammer. The knocking sound you hear is the piston’s connecting rod resonating. What we want is a nice clean BURN.

Great posting!

(Engines create their own vacuum. Could this be amplified in some manner to lower the boiling point of water for distilling on the go?)”

No, sorry. Energy would not be added to the system by this. Good thought though. There might be an application for your idea. I’ll think about it.

tigoldbitty

Posted 09 July 2006 at 09:26 pm

All this talk is kind of fun and all, but it is just talk. I’m bored with my job. Does anyone want to build something? I’ve got a BSME from UIUC and some experience in this area.

joe_dirtbike

Posted 14 July 2006 at 07:23 am

Frozen water fix?

What if the water tank was flexible so it wouldn’t crack from expanding frozen water? The walls of the tank could be lined with wire heating elements like in a toaster. I bet the water could thaw faster than it would be used. You might have to turn the tank heater on a couple of minutes before starting your engine though.
-The water lines and injectors would have to expell their water when the engine is turned off so they wouldn’t freeze and break. The lines and injectors would also have to have some kind of heating so the water won’t instantly freeze at extreme cold conditions. Water pump too.

joe_dirtbike

Posted 14 July 2006 at 07:34 am

-Another thought

If the engine is fuel and water injected on seperate injectors, either injector could go when needed. When the engine is at idle it might run too cool to convert the water to steam. So maby at idle it could run as a normal four stroke engine. Conversly the engine at higher rpm’s or under a load would run hotter. So more power strokes could run on steam. I think it would be a good idea for a heat sensor to tell which injector to go off at any given power stroke.

tigoldbitty

Posted 14 July 2006 at 05:28 pm

Joe,

Something like that could work, but the water is injected on the 5th stroke, or on what would be the 1st stroke in a 4 cylcle. (intake, compression, power, exaust : repeat). The six stroke design is (intake, compression, power, exaust, steam-power, exaust : repeat). The engine doesn’t really run on steam. It utilizes excess heat produced from the carnot cycle, potentially eliminating the need for a radiator as well. Your idea could work if valves were pneumatically controlled, or rigged in some other fancy way you like. Care would have to be taken in multi-cylinder engines so that harmonics does not become an issue. Simple problem though. Good thinking. Controls intensive.

CosmicFS

Posted 29 July 2006 at 01:06 pm

Let’s all cut to the chase: the high price of oil.

If Detroit was able to demo an SUV that ran by stuffing a Saudi Arabian into a “Greedy Arab Fuel Tank” or GAFT, you can bet they’ll start selling us crude oil for less than a buck per barrel!

Problem solved!

srsnook

Posted 14 August 2006 at 07:39 pm

Just a few observations: The AKRON and the MACON, US rigid dirigibles of the 1930’s recovered water from the diesel engine exhausts which weighed more than the fuel burned to make it. I assume that this engine has a separate water injector and a separate water exhaust valve, since trying to use the combustion exhaust valve would entail a very strange cam. Thus most of the water injected could be recovered relatively unpolluted if desired.

I also discovered that the expansion cycle can reasonably handle about twice the water needed for the cooling function, so I suggest the the water first run though a cylinder heat exchanger [to about 200*F] and then through an exhaust heat exchanger [[to about 600*F @1200-1500psi], and then injected into the cylinder.

earth dog Gil

Posted 27 August 2006 at 06:27 am

I have followed the comments about the six stroke engine since March. I think it is an idea of merit that coupled with electonic vlaves could produce an engine that would be a significant improvement. What bugs me is the fact that I see nothing from the big automakers on this type of thing.

This invation could be coupled wtih a smart vlave system (http://www.valeo.com/automotive-supplier/Jahia/lang/en/pid/1317). This would solve the cold starting issue. If a 3 valve cylinder head were used, the steam be cooled back to water thru acondensor in place of a radiator. The throttle and water injection on/off could be controlled by computer.

I have yet to see this idea in a develpment stage. I have had a life long interest in fuel economy since the gas lines of 1973.

satsingh

Posted 14 September 2006 at 05:36 pm

This is not the first attempt on a six stroke engine. The foll three US patents explain in detail how a six srtoke computer controlled engine with water injection works. Water injection must be computerised because of varying load, speed, combustion chamber temperature , water temperature and water quantities. This complex process can only be done with a computer. These patents were developed long before Mr. Crower’s dream.

Hope that this information will put Mr Crower’s engine in perspective.

Would like to know his Patent number . Maybe we can learn from each other

nutramistic

Posted 21 September 2006 at 05:56 am

what about this…?

A vehicle with a very small 2 cyl. engine for low-speed, low-end end torque, linked to a geared up turbine engine for higher speeds. Encasing the turbine engine would be a water jacket or water coil (or whatever fluid – recycleable or not) which would turn to steam and via a 1-way check valve and nozzel travel through a co-axial steam turbine (sharing the same shaft). Exhausing steam (or other vapor) would either be released to atmousphere, or be condensed (refrigerated or …) / compressed via a hydraulic motor/pump used for regenerative breaking. An accumulator (pressure vessle) of some kind would capture breaking energy transmited through the hydraulic motor, making energy available for either direct torque to the wheels, or providing pressure to the water line so that steam exits more … betterly. The accumulator power could also function as a starter for the 2 cylinder engine, that could be a 6 stroke, or more strokes if sealed on both sides of pistons … but probably not practical. The accumulator could also function to capture energy lost when the vehicle hits a bump in the road – shock absorber dampers in conjunction with check valves could be linked to the accumulator to provide additional pressure.

Oh yea, and the 2 cylinder engine shall not run at high speeds via a disengaging clutch. Other stuff too…

n81641

Posted 22 September 2006 at 10:41 pm

For the six stroke engine a replacement exhaust emission reducing device that could work at low temps and with lots of steam would have to replace the Catalytic Converter. How would this ever pass smog?

nutramistic

Posted 26 September 2006 at 09:20 am

Shut your ignorant typing hand! More BS reasons as to why innovations “cannot” be done!? If you are not an engineer, don’t even attempt to engage in engineering conversation.

In response, quite easily. With a turbine engine, you could run even higher temps. Water cooling does not mean that you would lower exhaust temperatures significantly – only just enough. Think about it.. what the hell does your radiator do? Do cars in California have radiators? Um.. Yes!

Furthermore, steam can be condensed and recirculated. There can even be two separate exhaust pipes – one for CO_2 and the other for steam, if evacuated.

What is the purpose of engineering? If you are an engineer, might I suggest a career change.

But what should we do about asshole oil companys and auto-fuckers? How about driving away with the pump nozzel still attached to your car. That would make a real statement. Just think, gas stations with no pumps… wow. They would have to lower their prices then. But who really cares about prices. Forget it; I think I’ll make my own damnintersting car with block letters painted on the side that read “200 MPG” and “COST = $10,000”

If they’re going to hoard patents, then fuck em’. That or pay me, bitches. Or maybe lobbying on the steps of congress. Blackmail. Bribery. The usual. And with the money, fuck em’ s’more.

Who else thinks pantent lifespan should be reduced. It would encourage economic growth if it were limited to about 5 years and re-applications were limmited too. Production efficiency would become paramount, thus the economy would improve as costs would be reduced all around due to better engineering. And companies and countries who would rather whoar out natural recourses can go suck an efficient egg.

Sounds like a good idea. They would probably have to first use it in Stationary engines to work out any problems plus the weight of the water wouldn’t be a problem.

quinton_keats

Posted 04 January 2007 at 09:22 pm

this is to “bucky” the comment #3 your friend never got water in under his sparkplug and lost the engine because of it ,this is very highly unlikely. The sparkplug is set and sealed in the cylinder head there for water can not enter the engine this way. But I’m not saying that your friend never lost his engine, i’d say what happened is the water enter the engine via the air intake system and down into the cylinder. (water can not be compressed) the amount of water that went into the cylnder was more then what would fit in the combustion chamber there for the engine seized. this is called a hydro lock. Back in the older days garages used water to repair engines that dieseled. (a dieseling engine is a gas engine that continues to run after the key is turned off. this happens when there is alot of carbon build up in the engine, the carbon glows red hot and ignites the fuel after the sparkplug as stoped sparking) they would drip drops of water into the carb as the engine was running and reved up. the drops of water would turn in to a mist and blast the carbon out of the engine. its kind of cool to see happen and it work very well. you can even see the bits of carbon come out the tail pipe.

Bucky said: “I thought that water in your pistons was B-A-D? My friend drove his truck through a huge puddle and water got in under the sparkplugs. The engine seized up so quickly that the crankshaft was bent where the pistons attach. How is this engine successful, then?

I’m still amazed he got it to work on the first try. I can hardly make a few lines of code run correctly on the first try, much less design my own revolutionary combustion engine and have it work from the start. I guess that is testament to the simplicity of the idea. It will be interesting to see where this goes in the coming years, if at all.

Maybe the car could create distilled water itself, from tapwater? That might be able to take even more heat out of the engine.”

Digital Dave

Posted 26 June 2007 at 05:08 pm

tigoldbitty, you said you’re bored and want to build something. Check out the thoughts behind a 4-stroke, combined-cycle combustion-steam engine at http://desakrisson.topcities.com

Do you think it may be more efficient than the Crower engine?

James

Posted 21 July 2007 at 10:52 am

How do you keep blowby water out of your engine oil? There should be quite a bit excape past the piston rings on the steam stroke.

Regard’s, James

Mantis946

Posted 30 July 2007 at 07:29 am

What if instead of having the two valves there was a 3rd for the steam to go out of, that valve could lead back to the water tank that it origonally came from and the pipe carrying the steam could wrap itself around the water tank cooling the steam pipe (assuming the origonal water tank is cool) turning the steam back to water, then the steam pipe carrying the steam/water could lead into the origonal tank re -filling and re-using what it sent out. Im no engineer and this may have already been thought of, i just have a crazy imagination :P

lso a question, what if when you first turn the car on in the morning water was injected first, wouldnt that just flood and kill the engine? or is there a system to prevent it? (not sure how hot glow plugs would get the cylnder) im imagining the vechiles ECU would sort that problem but as i said before im no engineer i just like cars.

mikestp

Posted 14 August 2007 at 02:44 am

well i can see one BIG problem with this engine, it says that the engine is only warm while running… if so then how does the water vapourise?

well i can see one BIG problem with this engine, it says that the engine is only warm while running… if so then how does the water vapourise?

plz reply me on “tata2beta@yahoo.co.in”

mikestp

Posted 22 September 2007 at 05:43 am

Mantis946 said: “What if instead of having the two valves there was a 3rd for the steam to go out of, that valve could lead back to the water tank that it origonally came from and the pipe carrying the steam could wrap itself around the water tank cooling the steam pipe (assuming the origonal water tank is cool) turning the steam back to water, then the steam pipe carrying the steam/water could lead into the origonal tank re -filling and re-using what it sent out. Im no engineer and this may have already been thought of, i just have a crazy imagination :P

lso a question, what if when you first turn the car on in the morning water was injected first, wouldnt that just flood and kill the engine? or is there a system to prevent it? (not sure how hot glow plugs would get the cylnder) im imagining the vechiles ECU would sort that problem but as i said before im no engineer i just like cars.”

the water injected isn’t enough to fill the entire cylinder its just a sqirt so even without enought heat to fully vapourise it it would just sit at the top of the piston so it wouldn’t cause hydralock… i still doupt they even built an engine where the waterstroke accually produces power…

DaS Energy

Posted 11 November 2007 at 07:22 am

The idea of the internal combustion steam engine was commercialised some years back. It had twin injectors one for water and one for Diesel. Why it was eventualy taken of the market I do not know. The only problem I have had in replicating the engine was to stop pitting, and this was overcome by ceramic sleeve in the cylinder. My next step was to eliminate the second injector and second tank for water, and I did this by discovering how to fully suspend Water in Diesel fuel. I put it out to a few engine makers and fuel companies but they wanted it like a tomcat wants a vetinary surgeon.

harsha

Posted 18 February 2008 at 10:56 am

Really wonderful. The concept is fantastic . Through this We can reduce air pollution to some extent. Being an young mechanical engineer, I know the problems involved in generation of steam. Every time steam is generated outside the main system, but here steam is generated inside the cylinder.This is a great work. All credits should go to him and his team.

kulash

Posted 18 July 2008 at 05:27 am

This looks like a cool concept. But I am thinking how much water it will need every time. You will have to have another tank to store water. You will need to fill the cylinder completely with water every time at required RPM of engine. So I think water tank would be lot bigger. You will also need special valves to discharge required amount of water per stroke. Again you will need distilled water which is not cheap. Also, in general, it is hard to run same engine simulteneously on two types of fuels. Steam might affect many internal parts of machine.
I think it is too hard to make this engine work in first experiment.

a1c

Posted 09 August 2008 at 04:32 pm

A Crower cycle diesel with a cogenerating hydrogen injection system and bluetec could be remarkably clean.

wildmuleskinner

Posted 07 September 2008 at 03:25 pm

how could I contact bruce crower

Bob Nesbo

Posted 30 September 2008 at 03:23 am

Tynan said: “Now way this will work where I live without some modifications. It’s currently below zero outside (in mid-March).

Sounds great for people from warm places though.”

Maybe have a way for the engine to switch to regular 4 stroke in the winter, and 6 stroke when it’s above freezing?

Cringle84

Posted 09 October 2008 at 08:43 pm

Reading through these posts, all you engineers have not considered this one major concern, I am not an engineer, but I understand chemistry fairly well. One of the biggest offenders in petrol and diesel in this case is that these fuels contain sulphur, therefore the burning process of the fuel in these engines emit Sulphur dioxide, which is no harm to the engine itself on its own, but then you add water injection, vaporising it for the purpose of the second stroke. bubbling sulphur dioxide or exhaust gas through water eventually turns it into H2SO4 (sulphuric acid) a battery acid, the same reaction happens although faster when the water is vaporised and at a higher temperature. Think about how acid rain forms.

Thinking of this, Sulphuric acid would rust out your exhaust systems, and cause eventual corrosion damage to the combustion chamber. Another concern is that you cannot condense the water to be used again anyway, as what you would get is suplhuric acid with sludge, some sort of dangerous substance that no consumer would want to even handle, and you cant feed it back into the engine.

Unless you change to a Sulphur free fuel, this is not a commercial viable approach, probably the closest thing to extend life is to do without a muffler, but who wants noisy vehicles roaming our streets, the EPA would not be happy.

Cringle84

Posted 10 October 2008 at 04:46 pm

I just had a thought, how about trying it with propane gas as fuel, there is no sulphur in propane. The byproducts of combustion of propane is carbon dioxide and water and there is no soot to make sludge so therefore you can condense the exhaust vapors to water to be used again. Propane fueled cars are commonplace here in Australia, I guess it is common in other countries, there is a thought!

blackzeroflame

Posted 19 October 2008 at 10:49 pm

I recently saw an article about a new linear engine, it uses a single horizontal piston with an ignition chamber at each side and a linear kinetic-electric converter in the center. it’s only got one moving part, meaning efficiency in the motor itself is close to 90% or more. after you add in the rest of the car’s parts, that drops a lot, but it still comes out at around twice the efficiency of a 4 stroke. not to mention it’s a breeze to repair and has a much longer lifespan. Plus, the timing can be changes electronically, so it can run on many different fuels.

dhinesh

Posted 08 December 2008 at 04:39 am

sir,

i have interest to do my final year project on 6 stroke ic engine…

i have some doubts to design the machine.could you clarify the doubts sir ?

* The mass flow rate of water in the FIFTH STROKE ?
* The inlet pressure of water at the time of fifth stroke ( water injection pressure) ?
* Could you send me the valve timing diagram and performance curves (efficiency curve) of your engine model ?

i am expecting your reply sir…

dhinesh

Posted 10 December 2008 at 04:00 am

dhinesh said: “sir,

i have interest to do my final year project on 6 stroke ic engine…

i have some doubts to design the machine.could you clarify the doubts sir ?

* The mass flow rate of water in the FIFTH STROKE ?

* The inlet pressure of water at the time of fifth stroke ( water injection pressure) ?

its unbeleivable……….i think he could make a drastic change in automotives……..
hope they will do some other which will surly quite different…………….
best of luck

Two Cents from Girth

Posted 02 January 2009 at 09:37 am

Another great change in the American Aumotive industry would be to dispence with the United Autoworkers Union… If an industry is performing well and generating a profit, they should be allowed to regulate labor as they please, within the letters of the law. Inn this case, they have gone to Congress and aquired 17+- billion of my/our money to fund a labor system that is overpriced and antiquaited in todays “global market”. The Japanese are here in the U.S. opening factories and hiring non union labor and expanding. A plant opened in San Antonio making Toyotas while Michigan rusts away, how is that possible? I’ll tell you. These workers have been convinced it takes $20 plus an hour to assemble a car and wont budge because of the UAU and their own greed. By all rights, the foreign auto manufacturers should be in Michigan, all the trained workers are there, the infrastructure is there and the factories are already there. Did Michigan make it easy for them ? Heck no! They had protests, caused trouble and dug their heels in, for what? So the union dues could keep rolling in. The US Gov. didnt do this, the workers didnt, nor the consumers, it was the Union itself, because of its inflexibility. Look at the wage scale for automotive assembly around the world… enough said. I am sorry, automotive assembly is no longer (and probally never was) a $28 per hour w/ benifits and a pention kind of a career field. I am not knocking the work and the hours, I am knocking the inflexibility of the Union in what many of us would agree is an ever changing market. The Japanese, Europeans and now some Americans have proven you dont need a union to build a car or protect a competative wage… So we really need to get real about our Autoworkers Union especially when it is they who are taking directly from us now. What has the UAU done for us or the worker in the last 20 years? News flash, we lost cars wars but did not adapt our labor to stay competative, now we make Japanese cars in our country while American car factories close, boo hoo. We know the how and we know the why, what has been done? Zilch, nada, nicht, nothing. Want a healthy industry, build a better car and reduce labor costs, just about every industry seeks those results, what makes car production so special? Now they are getting bailouts?? What about a for sale sign or limited bankruptcy, skipping at least two steps as far as I can tell.

ravi.kr

Posted 29 January 2009 at 05:19 am

RAVIKUMAR K

hello sir really you done a good job..
really it is envirnamental frendly engine, it is most usefull for the future era.
i have done diploma in automobile with BE in mechanical graduation.
one thing i have to share with you, i have done my accademic project as SIX STROKE I C ENGINE in my BE as same as your concept. i got sucess, i would like to share the details with you regarding what i have done, and i would like to improve the engine design and other performance criteria, can you revert back me sir…..
your’s

ravikumar k
09886288318

ravi.kr

Posted 30 January 2009 at 12:05 am

ravi.kr said: “RAVIKUMAR K

hello sir really you done a good job..
really it is envirnamental frendly engine, it is most usefull for the future era.
i have done diploma in automobile with BE in mechanical graduation.
one thing i have to share with you, i have done my accademic project as SIX STROKE I C ENGINE in my BE as same as your concept. i got sucess, i would like to share the details with you regarding what i have done, and i would like to improve the engine design and other performance criteria, can you revert back me sir…..
your’s

ravikumar k
09886288318”

paresh bhangale

Posted 12 February 2010 at 10:38 pm

this is excellent idea …….

iliyas inamdar

Posted 12 February 2010 at 11:01 pm

your idea is great. but is it possible to build such an engine….? but wont there be any corrosion of engine due to water particles……..? when water will enter d cylinder there will temprature drop so wont the calorific value of the fuel b affected….?
please reply my queries…
yours iliyas
+919881056925

biscuithead1224

Posted 14 April 2010 at 05:42 pm

Now the big problem i see is that sometimes the car doesn’t start on the first cycle and if the gas doesn’t burn then the water gets injected then you have a big mess inside the cylinder

biscuithead1224

Posted 14 April 2010 at 05:44 pm

Cringle84 said: “I just had a thought, how about trying it with propane gas as fuel, there is no sulphur in propane. The byproducts of combustion of propane is carbon dioxide and water and there is no soot to make sludge so therefore you can condense the exhaust vapors to water to be used again. Propane fueled cars are commonplace here in Australia, I guess it is common in other countries, there is a thought!”

excellent idea!

gbirds

Posted 02 June 2010 at 07:05 pm

Dear Steam power inventors;
06-02-2010
I found an idea about a “Hybrid Steam Six Cycle Engine” by Bruce Crower in “The Best Inventions Of 2007” on the Internet. The present “Gulf Oil Spill” has set me off again to try to get a proto-type engine built of a hybrid steam engine.
I have been writing in my journals for 30 years about a conversion I wanted to make to the gas guzzling V-8 engines. My idea has been to use two outside cylinders on one side as gas cylinders without modification. The other side inside cylinders would also be used as gas cylinders without modification. These four cylinders would be modern fuel injected with all normal computer controls. The engine must be run on these four cylinders until proper block and head temperatures are achieved. Then the four remaining cylinders would be run as two stroke units being powered by “flashsteam” injection at top dead center of the steam cylinders. The exhaust from each gas cylinder would go out of its normal exhaust port and loop around to its adjacent steam cylinder old exhaust port. The old exhaust valve and seat in the steam cylinder will be replaced with a “heat sink” which extends into the old combustion chamber and thereby replacing it. The other side of the “heat sink” will have fins on it extending up through a hole milled in the head which replaced the old exhaust valve. A stainless steel tube will be press fitted in that hole which holds that “heat sink” essentially blocking any flow into the steam cylinder. But the exhaust gas from the adjacent gas cylinder will flow through a side hole in that SS tube with the fins of the “heat sink” protruding upward. This new exhaust tube will have to come out of a hole cut in the old valve cover. There will be two such holes in the old valve covers directly in line with the replaced old exhaust valves. The original intake valves of the converted cylinders will become the new exhaust valves for the new steam cylinders. They must be controlled by a special cam shaft which has a double lobe for each of the new steam exhaust valves. This control will be to open the steam exhaust valve at bottom dead center and close it on top dead center using two new lobes on that cam position. There will be four such new double lobe cam positions. The original exhaust lobes for those cylinders will not be used. A new simplified intake manifold must be fabricated to provide normal injector placement and connection to the throttle body for the gas cylinders. A new manifold from the original intake holes on the steam cylinders which are now steam exhaust holes will be joined to the new SS gas exhaust tubes coming out of the valve covers which will mix the spent steam with the gas exhaust to be outputted to the atmosphere through normal modern exhaust systems. A computer control of the “flashsteam” injectors must be provided. The idea of using a “Corn Burner” as a heat source has been modified by using the waste heat from the standard internal combustion engine. I am not mixing water or steam into the gas cylinders. The gas cylinders will be unchanged physically or in their normal operation; just their exhaust will be diverted a bit. Limiting some of the water cooling around the new steam cylinder and head should be done to retain their heat. The “flashsteam” injector may be the proper way to run the steam cylinder. I have wanted to make what I call my “Hybrid Steam Engine” for years. Every time the price of fuel goes up, I get more interested in its development. Now the fuel price has pushed me to accomplish my goal. But I do not feel the idea or which could be an invention needs to be held in private for financial gain. I have told many people about the idea without any action. Now with the Internet, maybe this idea will catch the eye of people of the World and not be squashed by the oil companies.
Attention: V-8 Engines, it is time to change your eating habits. You are going to have your gut detoured to scavenge some of your waste heat. You are not going to have to use four of your gas cylinders on your eight cylinders engines to run any more. You can have four cylinders with gas; but the other four cylinders will provide power without you expelling hot air. The four converted cylinders will not be letting out your energy just to raise the air temperature around you.
Attention: Drivers of V-8 Engines, do your part to encourage the development of a more efficient internal combustion engine. Be at least interested in ideas to ultimately save your cash and our energy supplies. Enthusiasm is the spice of life; and it will provide rewards. That is better than complaining over a cup of coffee. Positive feedback with constructive criticism is what we inventors need to put our ideas into a working prototype. At least, you can see from my contributions that I am attempting to help our energy situation with positive suggestions.
Attention: Inventors, car buffs, steam engine masters, and others with positive feedback, make your contribution to an energy efficient internal combustion engine. Remember, it doesn’t have to be something that needs new castings. Electronic control is common place now. Rust resistant injectors are available. Bring up your problems with the idea in a positive way with alternative approaches. Let us all work toward a common goal which is to finally keep more of our hard earned cash in our pocket instead of paying through to nose for our fuel to propel our vehicles.
Attention: Big SUV and pickup drivers, wouldn’t it be wonderful to take your gas guzzler vehicles into a modification shop to have it converted to a hybrid steam engine. There is enough carrying capacity for this energy modification of your gas guzzler vehicle which is upside down in value of typically $10,000 because no dealer will give you jack poo for it toward a new small energy efficient vehicle. Talk about this hybrid steam engine idea that I have proposed. There must be engine builders to help make a prototype.
Attention: As the writer of this hybrid steam engine, I will continue to make a prototype. In my following contribution letters, I will be more specific on the necessary modifications and my progress in making a prototype. I even am thinking about making my own camshaft by wilding and regrinding four of the lobes by following the contour of other lobes which will give me necessary lobe with two high sections. I am not worrying about things like angles just as long as the valve opens at bottom dead center and closes at top dead center. The four remaining gas cylinders are 4 cycle gas engine design. The four steam cylinders are now 2 cycles with a power stroke on every downward movement of the piston. No gas is mixed with water. No worry about heat losses because that is exactly what the hybrid steam engine does to the block heat as well as the exhaust heat. As far as heat rejection, and condensers in steam engines, that will be something to consider for better efficiency and water consumption. But if all I need to do is to add distilled water to my tank and drive the hybrid steam engine to work with its normal fuel supply, I can do that. I can even collect rain water to use a water supply. As far as freezing in cold climates, that will have to be addressed in a positive way. Water getting into the crankcase from the steam cylinders must be addressed; but has anybody tried water soluble oil in their crankcase? The automatic machining industry use soluble oil in all of their high speed cutting machines to cool and lubricate their cutters. My contribution to this forum will be positive with as much help to others to keep their enthusiasm.
As I mentioned in the beginning of this letter, my thoughts of inventions has be on going for years. I do have other ideas which I would be glad to share with you. I am 71 in fair health with a strong background in electronics and CAD drawing education. My best aptitude was measured in beginning college to be mechanics and science.
There is a “Six Stroke” engine designed by Bruce Crower that has unique principles. The main important principle is providing a fifth and sixth stroke in each cylinder. I am unsure of the need of a second exhaust valve in each cylinder. The sequence of operation as I understand is to have a (1) intake gas stroke, (2) compression gas stroke, (3) power gas stroke, (4) exhaust gas stroke, (5) power steam stroke, and (6) exhaust steam stroke.
Would it be possible to make the exhaust gas valve to double for the exhaust steam valve? They are both in the same cylinder positioned probably side by side. With that design, the old gas guzzler V-8 could be easier modified. The cam shaft would have to be modified in your design to make it turn at 1/3 of the crank shaft and make the lob positioned in a 1/3 portion of the cam shaft. The gas exhaust lobe would have high spots that would open the valve on stroke (4) and stroke (6) if the same valve were used for the gas exhaust stroke and steam exhaust stroke; otherwise each cylinder must be provided with a third valve system.
If you used the common exhaust valve idea on the six stroke hybrid steam engine but add the idea of using alternative cylinders for only steam power, can the result be a big winner?
The cam shaft would need proper lobes for each cylinder based on the 1/3 cam speed. I think the cam should provide six strokes as follows:
(A) An intake gas stroke, a steam power stroke, and a steam exhaust stroke.
(B) A gas compression stroke, a steam power stroke and a steam exhaust stroke.
(C) Gas power stroke, a steam power stroke, and a steam exhaust stroke.
(D) Gas exhaust stroke, a steam power stroke, and a steam exhaust stroke.
(E) Gas (steam) power stroke, a steam power stroke, and a steam exhaust stroke.
(F) Gas (steam) exhaust stroke, a steam power stroke, and a steam exhaust stroke.
Does the combination of the “Six Cycle Hybrid Steam Engine” and my hybrid steam engine have merit? Bear in mind that this engine should be able to be made from a modified standard V-8 engine. Only the cam shaft needs to be made. The heads could be just modified heads. The exhaust manifold as well as the intake manifold is also special welded pipes. Fuel injection is standard for the gas cylinders. Water injection must be provided out of rust free material for the steam application. Gears and chains must be provided for the 1/3 ratio of cam to crank. Don’t worry about water recovery; and don’t worry about distilled water because the use of rain water or snow-melt is good enough. The emergency use of distilled water is always the possibility.
I hope my suggestions are more than hot steam. I need to put my retirement to good use to possibly help the bad economy and energy problems of our Country and World. Keep in touch because I have some other good ideas such as fine gold recovery and owner builder home construction.
Sincerely,
George J. Birds Jr.
601 Canyon Dr.
Lebec, CA 93243
Phone: (661) 248-5152
E-mail: birdsgyjk@wmconnect.com

apoorva

Posted 20 September 2011 at 11:34 pm

it has been said that steam will expand to 1600 times its volume then how could the cylinder walls be able to bear such high pressure????
plz leave your answers if any of you have…

igmothemagus

Posted 23 September 2011 at 07:34 am

You don’t use a LOT of water in the cylinder at once. By limiting the amount of water you limit the amount of steam (and pressure) to something that the walls can handle safely.

pally1766

Posted 21 May 2012 at 06:30 pm

This concept was tested by my father back in the early eighties(australia).. I actually learnt how to drive my first car with his concept(six stroke).. What he did was play with the camshaft overlap, and a few other tweaks. He successfully tested the concept. The end result was a 14% power loss on initial take off from the lights( by adding in the extra strokes). He did gain total vapourization of fuel, and on a 30 deg C day, steam vapour would be visable from the tail pipe.. Water injection on the extra stoke wasn’t thought of I must say back then, so it’s interesting….By playing with this concept, this led him to a different area(variable stroke concept) where he would have the power stroke only half the distance of the full stroke cycle.., the problem here was the energy needed to move the add on components, was greater than what the engine couid produce, thus after this failure, He now has a new crankshaft add on design to hold the piston at TDC for a few degree’s of the crankshaft, trying to simulate what he’d thought of almost 30 years ago. Unfortunately he passed away 3 years ago so i’m left with a concept hand model, and some calculations. His idea was to utilise this new design in a low reving engine such as a diesel to increase it’s thermal efficiency output, and i must say after 30 years of hit and miss, i think he has finally hit the jackpot with this very bacis design. Almost every new enhanced concept of the internal combustion engine has occurred from the block upwards(ie, turbo, fuel injection, etc) from the head down, the concept has remained unchanged since the beginning of the internal combustion engine, so with a little more time, i’m preparing a prototype to prove his theories correct, and possibly revolutionize the standard crankshaft design…any comments, please email me..palbc@bigpond.com

Lyn Leonhard Pal

ari28990

Posted 09 August 2012 at 08:12 am

very simple to listen but very complex in real ,interesting topic pls anyone that can upload full details of this i am thinking to research on this for my major project in b-tech, can any one send me details like which material used ,and how spark timing was changed ,, on my email id- amardeep_9093@yahoo.co.in

p0kerface

Posted 20 May 2013 at 05:57 pm

The water has it’s own stroke in the 6-stroke process, that means it could use a semi-closed water/steam circulation system. Use a separate valve for steam-exhaust into a filter/condensing chamber and route that back into the water system. The water and filter can be periodically changed like motor oil. (I can see the public catching their own rain water to better MPG). I guess my idea might require a radiator and put half the plumbing back into the equation but now it’s used to create power as well as cool the engine!

On a side note, this water injection/cooling would also raise the effective octane of all fuels used; this means naturally aspirated engines can use higher compression ratios without requiring premium and turbo cars can safely add more boost! Efficiency = more power, I love it!

Surya Nath Regmi

Posted 27 November 2013 at 10:53 pm

Is fuel consumption ratio of six stroke engine will increases with the increase of engine speed and load?
Plz any one can provide me the experimental data comparing the fuel consumption rate of four stroke and six stroke engine? Plz its urgent

Feliks

Posted 13 December 2013 at 06:02 pm

Really less fuel will be possible with such constructs .. and lubricating oil, it need will not ..

His engine was set up to take water and that water acted as a fuel. When your friend got water in the intake, then yes it will cause problems. Water and fuel will not mix, but water as the fuel is the brilliance behind the prototype.

Bucky said: “I thought that water in your pistons was B-A-D? My friend drove his truck through a huge puddle and water got in under the sparkplugs. The engine seized up so quickly that the crankshaft was bent where the pistons attach. How is this engine successful, then?

I’m still amazed he got it to work on the first try. I can hardly make a few lines of code run correctly on the first try, much less design my own revolutionary combustion engine and have it work from the start. I guess that is testament to the simplicity of the idea. It will be interesting to see where this goes in the coming years, if at all.
Maybe the car could create distilled water itself, from tapwater? That might be able to take even more heat out of the engine.”

Anup

Posted 09 June 2014 at 11:56 pm

Bucky said: “I thought that water in your pistons was B-A-D? My friend drove his truck through a huge puddle and water got in under the sparkplugs. The engine seized up so quickly that the crankshaft was bent where the pistons attach. How is this engine successful, then?

I’m still amazed he got it to work on the first try. I can hardly make a few lines of code run correctly on the first try, much less design my own revolutionary combustion engine and have it work from the start. I guess that is testament to the simplicity of the idea. It will be interesting to see where this goes in the coming years, if at all.
Maybe the car could create distilled water itself, from tapwater? That might be able to take even more heat out of the engine.”

Bucky, Any or all of these things could have happened.
1. The huge puddle rapidly cooled your friend’s block causing the cylinder blocks to shrink while the pistons inside stayed the same. The pistons stopped “sliding” and seized.
2. A significant amount water got in the intake and into the cylinder(s). Since water is a lot denser than gas, the compression stroke couldn’t reach TDC.
3. A small amount of water got into the cylinder(s) through the intake. Causing a inadvertent combustion and increase in cylinder pressure (rapid expansion to steam – 1 cc of water turns into 1700cc of steam approx). This along with the air in the cylinder pinned the piston in BDC/ resisted compression to TDC (assuming good cylinder sealing)

In Bruce’s design, the water is injected in it’s own stroke at a time when it’s expansion can do work (push the piston back down to BDC) and is separate from the gasoline cycle.

Chris Klessens

Posted 10 October 2014 at 04:13 am

Would this type of 6 cycle engine be limited to single cylinder design? The reason I ask is that it seems that in a multi-cylinder configuration, when one cylinder was on the “steam expansion” stroke of the cycle less power would be produced than that produced by a cylinder on its normal “combustion” cycle. In other words, can the expansion rate of steam in one cylinder keep up with that of burning fuel/air in another?

eric

Posted 16 December 2014 at 06:32 pm

Bucky said: “I thought that water in your pistons was B-A-D? My friend drove his truck through a huge puddle and water got in under the sparkplugs. The engine seized up so quickly that the crankshaft was bent where the pistons attach. How is this engine successful, then?

I’m still amazed he got it to work on the first try. I can hardly make a few lines of code run correctly on the first try, much less design my own revolutionary combustion engine and have it work from the start. I guess that is testament to the simplicity of the idea. It will be interesting to see where this goes in the coming years, if at all.
Maybe the car could create distilled water itself, from tapwater? That might be able to take even more heat out of the engine.”

Water in the engine is bad… he is talking about injecting it (probably in a fine mist) so that it creates steam pressure, and is then exhausted before the fuel cycle even starts.

Tim Boss

Posted 30 December 2014 at 11:07 pm

Nice idea but I think the flaws have been identified.

-Energy to distill water would be practically equal to the energy utilized E in = E out.

-Excess water in the lubricating system will result in corrosion.

-Too much water in the chamber will promote inefficient combustion.

-Lack of a coolant system will be made up in the weight of the water tanks and due to the extra 2 strokes the inertial force will be lower within the engine because steam cycles require more power strokes to make power. Added weight and loss of power results in a zero net gains.

-Exhaust would damage the catalyst and lower temps in the engine would mess with emissions.

-The idea is really cool and very crafty, but why not raise compression and limit the fuel? Why not utilize more forced induction systems? why not use diesel since its easier to produce? So many other methods to increase efficiency for a mass produced unit than this.

Awesome idea though.

deepu

Posted 06 February 2015 at 09:35 am

pls tell abut working principle & working off six stroke engine REPLY FAST

Andrew Hodson

Posted 30 July 2016 at 02:39 pm

Yeah, I thought of the 6-stroke, but only to use less fuel when full power not needed. MG car sprays water into pistons for cooling, so low-octane used.

Azuike

Posted 19 August 2016 at 02:37 pm

For those countries depending on oil. It wil affect their economy. Water is cheap and the distillation process will not be cost as oil cost.